Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a Washington Post editorial published Tuesday morning that the growing attacks on the Justice Department are “dangerous to our democracy.”
In the article, Garland defended the Justice Department against threats made by former President Donald Trump’s associates recently to undo the work of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump for accumulating classified documents and obstructing investigations into the matter. To overturn the 2020 election. Garland described the department as facing conspiracy theories and threats of violence “like never before.”
“The continued baseless attacks on Justice Department employees are dangerous to people’s safety,” Garland wrote. “…this has to stop.”
Garland never calls the former president by his name. But he sharply criticizes a number of false claims Trump and his allies have spread since his conviction in New York last month. This includes claims that the Justice Department fabricated “a case brought by a district attorney that was resolved by a state jury verdict.” trial.”
There is no doubt that the attorney general was referring to the New York hush-money trial in which President Trump targeted the family of Judge Juan Mercan and pressured Republican lawmakers to investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg following his conviction.
Garland, who has fought to ensure that he and his department have a reputation for fairness, also refuted conspiracies that the Justice Department was using his work to influence politics.
“These claims are frequently made by those who seek to politicize the work of the department in order to influence the outcome of elections,” Garland continued.
The comments painted a portrait of a Justice Department director willing to act increasingly aggressively amid growing concerns about the safety of his employees. He condemns threats to “harass and intimidate” department officials, including law enforcement officers.
Garland is making the same argument to federal prosecutors in Trump’s classified documents case. He recently warned that the former president’s claims about authorizing the use of deadly force increase the risk for FBI agents involved or involved in the Mar-a-Lago search. Prosecution. A Florida judge overseeing pending criminal cases denied a request for a similar gag order on procedural grounds.
Trump has been selecting DOJ members for years. That history goes back to Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two FBI employees who recently settled a federal lawsuit stemming from the leak of anti-Trump texts to the news media.
In his most direct comments yet on the ongoing backlash the department is facing from both the left and the right, Garland said the “short-term political benefits” of such tactics pose long-term risks to the country. He reiterated that the department does not select targets “because of their gender, political affiliation, bank account size, place of origin or appearance.”
For Garland, that meant appointing three special prosecutors to investigate President Joe Biden, who nominated him, his son Hunter Biden, and Trump. A jury is currently deliberating Hunter Biden’s criminal case on federal gun charges.
